State Regulators Squash Massive Lake Elsinore Power Project

The California Public Utilities Commission Thursday dismissed a power-line project that would have streteched from Lake Elsinore through the Cleveland National Forest.

The project known as the Talega-Escondido/Valley-Serano power-line project was part of the controversial Lake Elsinore Advanced Pumped Storage Project, or LEAPS, a combination dam and hydropower project proposed by Nevada Hydro Company. The project called for pumping water from Lake Elsinore into a yet-to-be-constructed reservoir. Energy generated would have been transferred through the proposed overhead power lines.

and there have been financial and regulatory issues.

“This power-line project was an ecological and economic disaster waiting to happen,” said Jonathan Evans of the Center for Biological Diversity. “It’s time to finally move on from this boondoggle.”

In rejecting the application, California regulators found that the state “cannot afford to squander its resources on applications that, despite more than 18 months of work, remain vague and speculative as to financing and indeed the project itself.”

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission , and the State Water Resources Control Board denied the project's water-quality certificate in 2009.

The LEAPS project was also the subject of a grand jury investigation that concluded it was “not economically viable."

Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District had backed the project, after the Feds dismissed the project.

"Unfortunately, the failed LEAPS permit process has cost Elsinore Valley’s water district and its ratepayers more than $4 million," a Center for Biological Diversity news release stated.

“It’s time to stop wasting stakeholder resources, including taxpayer money, civic energy and even much-needed faith in government,” said Gene Frick of the Sierra Club’s Santa Ana Mountains Task Force, an opponent of the project. “Nevada Hydro has been feeding too long at the public trough.”

The California Public Utilities Commission decision can be found at http://docs.cpuc.ca.gov/published/agenda/docs/3294_results.htm.